Life, Loss, and Puffins

A Novel

By: Catherine Ryan Hyde

Narrated by: Jess Nahikian

An exhilarating and emotional novel about grief, hope, friendship, and taking life one beautiful and spontaneous day at a time by New York Times bestselling author Catherine Ryan Hyde.

Freakishly smart. That’s the unwelcome box Ru Evans is put into for life. After all, she taught herself Euclidean geometry at age seven, has an eidetic memory, and is about to enter college at thirteen years old.

Boarding at a house near campus 150 miles from home, Ru meets seventeen-year-old Gabriel, an outsider himself who, like Ru, has trouble making friends—until they form a fast sibling-like bond. Finding a relatable someone in the world to talk to is a first for both of them.

But when Ru’s mother dies and the threat of living with her miserable aunt looms, Ru hatches an escape. It’s an impulsive road trip that takes Ru and Gabriel from California to Canada, where Ru can fulfill her ultimate dream: to see Atlantic puffins in the glorious wild.

Mile by mile, Ru discovers the joy of friendship, found family, dark night skies, and the aurora borealis, and she basks in going from being a smart person to just a person. Though she knows they’ll be in trouble when they’re caught, for the short time they are navigating twist by twist of an unknown road, the freedom is liberating, and she is living for what feels like the first time.

©2024 by Catherine Ryan Hyde, Trustee, or Successor Trustee, of the Catherine Ryan Hyde Revocable Trust created under that certain declaration dated September 27, 1999 (P)2024 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“Hyde writes a deeply compelling novel about teenagers finding their way in the world, even if their paths look a bit different than usual. Fans of Ethan Joella's A Quiet Life, Mary Alice Monroe's The Summer Guests, and Hazel Prior's Ellie and the Harpmaker will appreciate Hyde's deft handling of Ru's complex gift and the novel's heartwarming, character-driven charm.” —Booklist

“While there are adult characters in this book, it's the children who state the universal truths that Hyde wants to share with readers. And they do it beautifully and compellingly.” —Bookreporter

A lovely inspirational story and the reader was excellent!

A coming-of-age story that was totally engaging. Great character development with endearing qualities.

Great Story

Made me think about what we have. Life is a blessing. Ru reminds me of my son.

wonderful story of love, loss, and finding yourself

I started the audiobook and found the narrator a bit off putting with the way that she read the main character Ru. The story was slow to develop but gradually pulled me in until I could not stop reading it. I switched to the Kindle edition and finished it within a few hours. I really loved Ru and Gabriel's relationship, and how their friendship developed so deeply over a short period of time. And I loved the little twist at the end.

Fantastic... as usual!

You can never go wrong with Catherine Ryan Hyde. She tugs at your emotions each and every time. This one was so unique and a little different than her usual. I loved the story of following your dreams and bucket list items. The narration was so superb. Made listing to this even better. She did such a fantastic job between male and female and it was just so enjoyable.

Dreaming big

I liked how the characters were not afraid to try new things They had a great adventure

Characters

Understanding the emotions of the characters Reviewing this has too many requirements Removes the desire to review your books

As always a lovely imaginative story

Story kept my interest, characters interesting, never a dull moment with a few twist & turns, a great story. I love the fact that characters don’t fit in a box!

Not author’s best. And awful narration.

Story was ok but not her best in my opinion. I usually love her books. The narration was awful! High -pitched and rapid speaking of main character was annoying and unnecessary to convey her age and traits. Slowing down speed of app made the other voices too slow. It was also SO annoying when the narrator spoke in whispered tones at times. It was almost impossible to hear …..I wasn’t always able to up the volume but then afterwards it would be too loud. And again, I wasn’t nec able to lower it again. It’s annoying to have to do so and wasn’t always possible if I was busy. The whispered tones made things unnecessarily dramatic. I gritted my teeth throughout the book and regret not returning it in the middle. I can’t now, of course. It was a relief when the book ended. I would still cont8nue to read this author since I like her work. I think I’d have liked this book better had I eye-read it instead of listening to it. (I don’t listen to samples since they’re never long enough to pick up on things. For ex, here, I may have gotten the speed of the character’s speech, but not the whispered parts which mostly came later in the book. )

Life Learning

It was slow at first, but I am so delighted that I continued. Several insightful thoughts about life’s meaning. Highly recommend if you savor deeper meanings in your reads.

Love all her books!

I love all of her books, but they always stress me out, even though I know that there will have a happy(ish) ending. But this one didn’t have that same level of angst, which was nice. It was more of a buddy road trip novel, which made me want to plan a trip to the NWT!